T. N. Krishnan, Sriram and party Play in The Dark, 23/12/15

[Nick H]

Yesterday evening (23-12-15), my wife and I were lucky enough to attend an event which turned out to be one of pure magic.

It would have been enough that the concert took place in a tiny temple (Krishna Mandir, Thiruvanmiyur; Chennai Fine Arts) before a small audience of not more than twenty people, giving it the ambience of an intimate house concert, but the most amazing thing was that the electricity failed us.

After batteries had been found for the sruti boxes, and a few oil lamps lit, the musicians, completely unfazed, gave us an acoustic concert, in near darkness for the first hour or so, until the current was restored. When that eventually happened, the organiser ran after the sound man not to switch in full volume, but give us a sensitive transition from acoustic to slightly amplified. Kudos to both of them for handling the sound with such sensitivity. Mridangam and ghatam had, mic-less, perfectly adapted their volumes to the unamplified violins: Kudos to everyone!

The organiser also did a good job of chasing the chatterers and mobile-phone callers (even in such a small audience, there's always someone!)

I really, really appreciate the organisers, not only for organising such a concert but also for handling the whole event so well, and ensuring that it was a concert that I will never, ever forget. The event was held under the banner of ARI's 125th year, and TNK (who spoke for about twenty minutes, translation from Mrs H), told how it would have been like the temple concerts of a hundred years ago.

My wife was able to recognise on Krishna song, but, as per my usual deficiencies, I regret that I can't offer any song list. The TNK magic was strong, echoed by Sriram, and the accompanists were just right too.

Mridangam: KMS Mani.
Ghatam: Trichy Murali.

[hnbhagavan]

nice to read the review and kudos to Sri TN Krishnan who is performing at 89 years.the crisis handling is nice even better than big organisers.

[arasi]

Nick,
A dream of a concert, and I'm miles away...

Bhagwan, yes, the problem was very well handled by the organizers and super professional par excellence TNK rose to the occasion...

Young Aishwarya at Shastry Hall did too, recently--singing without a mic!

[Nick H]

... the crisis handling is nice even better than big organisers.

TNK spoke about him: an auditor who is a music lover. I don't know his name, I'll find out next time. I mentioned the disappointment that I felt that the rains had robbed us of his proposed concert by Sumithra V, accompanied on Veena by Ashwin Anand, back in November. He promised that it was not forgotten, and he would try to reschedule for April.

[pperumal]

Oh god this would have been a blissful concert. My miss. - PP.